Authorities capture Buda fugitive in Mexico

ByCiara O'Rourke
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Updated: 11:28 p.m. Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Published: 9:20 p.m. Tuesday, July 12, 2011

SAN MARCOS — Authorities on Tuesday announced the capture of John Everett Fitch , a 43-year-old fugitive from Buda who was convicted last month of indecency with a child.

Fitch fled on June 15, before his ex-girlfriend and the 13-year-old victim, testified during his jury trial, county officials said. Fitch was convicted June 16 despite his absence.

He was arrested about 10 p.m. Monday in a motel near Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas.

The U.S. Marshals Service fugitive task force, which worked with the Hays County sheriff's office, put several of Fitch's acquaintances under surveillance, including one woman believed to be Fitch's girlfriend, said Hector Gomez , a supervisory deputy U.S. marshal based in Austin.

When the woman, whom officials did not name, started driving south on Interstate 35 on Monday afternoon, officers followed her. Gomez said the southbound jaunt was "out of the ordinary, unusual and unexpected."

Mexican police picked up the trail when she crossed the border, Gomez said, following her to a motel near Nuevo Laredo. Authorities found Fitch in a room there.

The woman is under investigation but is not in custody, Gomez said.

After an immigration hearing — a routine step in retrieving fugitives who were born and convicted in the United States — a judge determined that Fitch had no legal grounds to stay in Mexico and handed him over to authorities in Laredo early Tuesday, Gomez said.

Sentencing for Fitch, who faces up to 20 years in prison without probation, is scheduled for July 21. Fred Weber , a Hays County assistant district attorney, said Fitch could face additional charges as result of his fleeing to Mexico.

Fitch is the second fugitive convicted of sex-related charges in Hays County to go on the lam this year.

In March, Prakashanand Saraswati , a Hindu guru and founder of the Barsana Dham ashram (now known as JKP Radha Madhav Dham) near Driftwood, disappeared the day he was to be sentenced on his conviction of indecency with a child by sexual contact.

Prakashanand, also known as Shree Swamiji, is still at large but was sentenced in absentia to 14 years in prison. Earlier this year, authorities said that Prakashanand probably fled to Mexico before heading farther south.

Weber said such fleeing incidences are rare, adding that the judicial system works "99 percent of the time."

"In Texas, everybody has the right to a bond," he said.

Gomez said authorities applied for an international "red notice" with Interpol, increasing the chances that Prakashanand could be arrested at a port of entry in a foreign country.

But realistically, Gomez said, the swami has associates and international contacts to facilitate his escape, and if he lands in a country with which the United States doesn't have an extradition treaty, "he's basically home free."

corourke@statesman.com; 512-392-8750

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